Crossroads
by PinkRangerV
Summary: A war ending. Paths colliding. A cosmic crossroads. AU. Formerly titled 'Black and White'.
1. Prologue

A\N: This is the first part of liron-aria's birthday present, and hopefully a distraction from a really bad day. So many many hugs and happy-birthday wishes, l-a! :)

* * *

_A spaceship floated._

_The engines were failing. In the vacuum of space, this shouldn't have been a problem, but as spaceflight grew more and more advanced, pilots and ground crews grew more and more lazy, relying on engines that worked consistently and with nearly no fuel to steer instead of pre-planning when and where to fire engines._

_So instead of reaching his destination, the pilot would miss the planet he sought by several light-minutes and wander the depths of space for the rest of his short lifespan._

_The problem would last a few hours before it became a serious problem, and then a day or so more before missing the planet altogether. The pilot had some time. But the mission was too sensitive to take that time; in reality, those few hours were all he had. All that his entire planet had._

_He had no other choice. A human knew nothing of spaceflight, and even less of the technologies involved. He had to free his prisoner._

_He had to free Andros._


	2. Engines

A\N: ...Andros, where the hell did you come from?

* * *

_Andros_

I fell asleep.

Stupid! I know better than that-I'm in hostile territory, a Red Ranger should never fall asleep on the job! What would Karone say? (Well, if she were still _talking_ to me...) But I did, and when I woke up he was unlocking my hands.

So I punch him in the face.

Tommy grabs my wrist before it lands. Should I even _call_ him Tommy anymore? The Tommy Oliver _I_ know is a hero. He's the leader of the Earth Ranger Corps, worn more Colors than a rainbow, and he's the one who talked me off a ledge after killing Zordon. But this _kal'knarval_ ambushed me while I was on my way back from a _peacekeeping_ mission.

And his eyes are...

There's this monster Kerovians talk about. It's a living incarnation of evil. That's Tommy right now. That's his eyes.  
He walks off but doesn't let go of my wrist. "Let go!" I snap, trying to twist free. Ow, that hurts. "Tommy, d****t, let-"

"Shut up."

...I'll shut up now.

Tommy drags me down to the engines. They've got a block in one of the fans, I can see the light dying from here. Is he going to throw me into the engines or...wait a minute. Slowly the lightbulb goes on.

He doesn't know what's wrong, does he?

"I ran a diagnostic and the computer won't tell me what's wrong." No kidding, Sherlock? You mean when you take over a ship the computer doesn't recognize you as an administrator for the system networks? I'm stunned. Really. "So I..." Tommy glares at the ground. "Needyourhelp."

Bingo.

I hesitate for a second. I mean, if anything falls into 'villain' territory, well, this kinda is extortion and lying and cheating and all of that. But on the other hand, I've heard about the Evil Green Ranger. If that sadist is still inside Tommy's head, he needs help and I need to get to a decent comlink to get him that help.

I can't do that if I'm marooned somewhere.

"I'll do it," I say slowly, "On one condition."

Tommy arches an eyebrow. He looks almost tired. Good. I hope you've spent whole nights sleepless over this, you jerk.

"And what would that be?"

"Take me with you."

Tommy stares.

"Whatever it is you're doing, take me with you." I repeat. "Or you and I get stuck out here _forever_." Well, or until the onboard computer realizes we've missed our window and sends out a call to the local Ranger Corps. But whatever, you don't need to know that detail.

His lips quirk up, like he's trying not to laugh. I wasn't actually expecting that. Then his features smooth out. "You sure? You won't like it."

"I'll live."

His lips quirk again, but this time it's smaller. "All right."

I turn and pop off the fan lid, yank out the rock that got stuck there, and pop the lid back on.

Tommy snorts. "Welcome aboard."


	3. Mission

A\N: Anonymous, I can't reply to your review if you don't sign it! But I _will_ say you should read liron-aria's _Facade_...Also, a general note. A _stalv_ is a tall metal staff that Tallians traditionally use as both offensive weapon and channel for magic. It's those staffs Rita and Zedd had in canon, in other words.

* * *

_Tommy_

(censored), Andros. Of all the things you could have done...

I sigh and drop my head into my hands. Why _now_? This is the most important mission I could have. The most important thing _anyone_ could do. I'm still stunned I was trusted with it to begin with-

The door opens.

"We had trouble." Zedd glides into the seat next to me. Without the illusion of skinlessness and that raspy voice-changer, he's beautiful, if that word can apply to men. Tall, dark-skinned and dark-haired, looks like an elf, wears jeans and dark green muscle shirts, aura of King Arthur reborn, wears his hair long and has startlingly violet eyes. Only the _stalv_ is the same.

"The engines cut out." I admit. "I had to get Andros to help."

"I take it that came with a price." Zedd deadpans. Thank you, King of Bigotry. I know he's got his reasons, but still, not all Lightsiders are pure evil.

"This time."

Zedd shrugs. He's convinced I'm childish and that I'll learn the true nature of Lightsiders eventually. "What was it?"

"He wants to come with us."

Zedd stares, then breaks out into deep, rich laughter.

"Yeah." I shake my head, smirking. Andros. You idiot. "I told him yes. I figure we can dump him off on Karone later."

"She will, of course, be _thrilled_." Zedd snarks. Karone has been very quietly infuriated at Andros for a while. I don't know why, but she has.

I shrug. "She'll be fine." Or kill me. Pick one. I smile dryly. "Anyway, it's only fair if you spring surprises on me I pay you back."

Zedd rolls his eyes. "It was necessary."

"C'mon. Spill." My tone is light and playful, but I _do_ want to know. This is important. I knew I was going to pick up Zedd, but I didn't know he'd planned on me picking up someone else, too.

Zedd considers me. He and Rita adopted me and Kat, when they were still off their meds, but when they were back on them they legally adopted us. Kat was thrilled. I was furious. Now I'm...well, Zedd and I are at a _dentate_. I've kind of given up on Rita. I don't think God Himself could stop that woman from trying to play mommy.

I wonder what Zedd sees in me now.

He calls up a file on the ship's computer, then pauses, tilting his head. Hunh? I can't see anything. Zedd sighs. "Come on out, Andros, you should hear this too."

Andros blushes and creeps out.

I give him the stink eye while Zedd finishes with the file. "Valtrin." He says, calling up an image of a solar system. "That's the star name, not the planet. Valtrin I and II both support life. Valtrin I is joining the Eltarian Empire, Valtrin II is staying neutral but in quiet talks with the Dark Court and a few neutral friends of ours." I nod, hearing the unspoken implications.

"So we're going to the Valtrin system?" Andros asks, confused. "Why? Do we need diamonds?"

Zedd snorts. Valtrin II is famous for having a diamond-rich surface. "Our contact is on Valtrin I."

"(censored)."

Zedd chuckles at my vehemence. "Agreed." He taps another file. "We have a cover, but recruiting Andros actually opens up another possibility."

"Um. How?" Andros asks. He sounds as suspicious as Zedd talking to Zordon. Minus several thousand metric tons of latent hostility, or for that matter, twice that amount of outright hostility.

"You can go in and recover our contact." Zedd explains. "You're a Lightsider. Our original plan was for Thomas to enhance his Light signature until he mimicked a Lightsider," Zedd nods to me, "But it would be best to have a pilot already on board in case of an emergency."

"Where _is_ our contact?" I ask suspiciously.

"Okay." Andros says.

...Someday, I will find a way to perform a lobotomy on whatever part of a Lightsider's brain makes them so utterly moronic that they leap into battle without knowing if that's even a good idea.

"She's in a district with a name I can't pronounce." Zedd explains. "We'll land there under the pretense we've been diverted thanks to an engine problem."

"What are we likely to find?" No point going in this unprepared.

Zedd looks dark. "Prep med bay."


	4. First Contact

A\N: Andros' POV again...and the world might not actually work the way he thinks it does...

* * *

_Andros_

It can't be _that_ bad, can it?

I'm still thinking that when we touch down. I'm supposed to be the captain, so I get to stand up and lie (again with the lying-great, I'm practically turning into a supervillain) to the locals.

They're friendly, though. When Eltar takes over, they ceremonially conquer the new planet, which pretty much means a giant military parade. The locals have a temporary regent, and the guy is pretty nice. I wonder if he'll get elected when they set up the democracy. Karone would say something snippy about that, but that's why she's on Miranoi. Anything to do with Eltar makes her snippy. She's sick, Shades all are. On Miranoi, it's easier for her.

"One hour." Tommy warns me. "Then we leave."

The man behind him-I heard Tommy call him Zedd, but that _can't_ be Zedd the Emperor of Tallia and the Dark Dimensions, can it? Probably Zed instead of Zedd-scowls, but says nothing.

So I head out into the giant military parade.

The parade is mostly over. There's flower petals and bits of paper everywhere. I glance at the scanner Zed gave me...hmm. I think I see it. There's a dot of yellow.

Eltarian soldiers are going through homes right now, and a few are coming out of one with a struggling, screaming prisoner. I wince. Most of the takeover is just a formality, but going through homes and actually _finding_ a threat to world pe-

_beep-beep-beep. beep-beep-beep._

…(censored).

"Um, excuse me, sirs," I start, jogging over to the soldiers. "I think you found part of my crew."

They glance at each other like I've lost my mind.

"I'm sorry, she's not really _well_," I stage-whisper, grabbing the woman's arm and steering her away from the soldiers, "We're taking her to a hospital right now-"

"She's evil."

...Whaa?

"What's your name, son?" One of them asks.

"Andros Legiolson, sir. Kerovian Red Ranger."

He calls up my file on a computer, then shakes his head. "Son, she's from the UAE. C'mon, let's go down to the station and sort this-"

He collapses, and so does the soldier next to him, because Tommy shot them both.

I want to vomit.

Tommy shoots off the woman's cuffs, then heads off for the woods. I can't move. I'm just...standing here...the woman follows, and there's a hail of laserfire, but I can't move, this is surreal and _this can't be happening_-

"Andros!" The woman's accent makes my name sound odd, _and-e-ros_. She turns and leaps for me, yanking me away by my collar and cursing in one of the UAE languages.

A plasma pellet hits her in the back. The metal bounces off whatever armor she's wearing, but the burn sets her clothes on fire. I shove her down, smothering the flames, but they won't _smother_ and then Tommy's hands are yanking off mine.

Tommy yanks the woman upright, and I help. I hear the soldiers shouting. "Don't shoot, they have a hostage!"

...Yes. They do.

"Tommy-" I can't finish, I yank his gun up so it's pointing at me.

He understands. "Shoot and I kill him!" He shouts in bad Eltarian.

The soldiers stare.

Tommy shifts the woman to me, making a show of shoving me back. I follow into the woods, onto the ship.

Please don't die. I don't even know who you are. But please don't die for me.


	5. Exposition

A\N: And now that I have given my tithes to the handmaiden of the Housecleaning Gods, chapter! Also, the lines 'X, on the other hand, does not know when to shut up', and the whistle scene, are shoutouts to Baby Kitty, who quit writing a few years ago but whose fics are still on my favs list for a reason. (And not that I can't figure out how to delete them. :p)

* * *

_Tommy_

"Is...is she really part of the UAE?" Andros stammers, eyes glued on the unconscious woman.  
Zedd snorts. "No. She's part of the _Dark Court_. That 'United Alliance of Evil' nonsense is just an Eltarian catchphrase." His eyes stay riveted on the woman laying unconcious in one of med bay's two bunks.

I've never seen him this careful with anyone. He treats her like fine china. Expertly, maybe, with all the skill of a healer, but still.

"Who is she?" I ask from my shadowed corner. My eyes still hurt from the lasers going off everywhere.

Zedd hesitates, then smooths a lock of hair away from her face. She has pointed features, dark hair, a slim, soft form, but Tallians don't generally look very strong. "My sister."

"You have a _sister_?" When did _this_ happen?

Zedd smiles bitterly, drawing a blanket over her. "She didn't approve of some of my choices," He explains, the bitterness showing in his tone as well. "Mostly that I dislike medications."

That explains it.

"Medications?" Andros asks. Legolas, you look like a puppy, knock it off.

"I have a mental illness." Zedd explains. "I become...delusional. Violent. Such as when I attacked Earth." Andros pales. I think he's been trying to pretend Zedd is someone else. "Medication can control it, but at the price of my magical power. I have a great deal of raw energy. Maintaining the balance between proper neurochemistry and proper amounts of power is difficult."

Zedd smooths down his sister's hair again, his eyes lost in nostalgic brotherly love. I've never seen him like this before, not even with Rita. "She cut herself off from her magic." Zedd tells us, quieter than ever. "She always hated me for retaining mine."

For retaining it, or for those spells where your low-dose meds aren't enough? But the question is too bitter to ask. Zedd and I have a truce. I'm not going to upset that for the sake of snarkiness.

"Hated you for magic, or for hurting people?" Andros, on the other hand, does not know when to shut up.

Zedd glances up. I almost think he's going to hit Andros, but he just snorts, like there's something wildly hilarious in all of this. "Children." He sighs and stands, walking out of med bay.

I clap Andros on the back. "Legolas?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up." I sweep past him into the bridge. Zedd is already there, charting our course. "Will she make it?" I hate to ask, but I need to know.

"No." Zedd says. No emotion. I guess what he said in med bay was enough for one day. "If we hurry, she can choose a successor on the station."

"A successor?" Andros asks, having walked straight into the middle of the conversation.

I ignore him. "If we aren't fast enough?"

"It reverts to her Heir." Zedd sighs. "The problem is that I haven't the faintest idea of _who_."

"Should I wake her up? Get her to tell us?" Zedd gives me a dirty look. "It's not my favorite option either, but we need to know."

"Know what? What's going on?" Andros demands.

"No. They'll know on the station."

Andros, having apparently had enough of me and Zedd having a perfectly good conversation, and having apparently found a whistle somewhere, sticks his head between our ears and blows the whistle _hard_.

Zedd and I both jump back, cursing, and Andros smirks. Legolas, I will kick your a** myself for that. "Now that I have your attention, _what in the name of Akra's left buttock is going on here_?"

"...Who the h**l is Akra and why do I care about his buttock?" I growl at Zedd.

"You mean you can hear something _besides_ ringing?" Zedd growls back.

Andros glares and puts the whistle to his lips.

"Give me that, Elf Lord." I snap, yanking it away. Bad Legolas. No whistle. "Sit. It's a long story."

Andros continues glaring. I swear he is five years old.

I call up a map of the galaxy. "This is the Milky Way, better known as Galaxy Zero. This is where it politically stood before the War of Power." I call up a really old color overlay. It looks like a rainbow of hues, a thousand different nations andsub-nations. Two glittering points are marked as Tallia I and Eltar.

"Eltar attacked Tallia I." I explain. "They think. Eltar's version is that the star went supernova and they rescued the survivors. I'm not really sure, but given Eltar and Tallia's track record, I'm willing to bet they just woke up one morning and decided it was time to kill each other."

"We were _attacked_ by the cowardly b******ds." Zedd grumbles. Uh-hunh. And the first thousand times you two went at it were what, practice?

"Anyway. Eltar won, but Tallia wasn't too thrilled. So to keep Tallia from launching a rebellion, they channeled the Power. That's how they see magic." I call up a list of the first Rangers. "The first Eltarian Colors were White, Pink, and Red. Zedd, though," I nod to the grouchier elf lord sitting at the helm, "Stole some of the morpher technology, MacGyvered it, and created the Green and Yellow Colors."

I call up a new map. "Cue several decades of destruction, violence, and generally nightmarish bad decisions on the behalf of everyone involved, and people started taking sides. The Daemon came up with the Blue and Black Colors, and they and Tallia formed the core of the Dark Court, while the Eltarian Empire got renamed the Council of Light."

"And that started the War of Power." Andros recites.

"Nope." Though Eltarian forces like pretending that was the start. "What actually started the War of Power was this." I call up an old video.

A green laser, nearly invisible when compared to the binary-star system it's shooting into, shoots through two stars. There's a pause, and then the explosion fills the screen with white before it crackles out.

"Eltar was holding a gun to a system's head to stop one of the Dark Rangers from doing something. They pulled the trigger. The _rest_ of the galaxy took more than a little offence to that." I shake my head. And who didn't see _that_ coming. "I don't have a video, but there were some new Colors that showed up. Not everyone actually sees color the way we do. For them, there's the Violet Spectrum. When one of those Rangers is on a color-seeing team, they're the Violet Ranger. And some people have a black-white-gray morality system, so they use the Metallic Colors. Gold, Silver, and Titanium are the ones that are generally used."

"The Mercenary Colors." Andros agrees.

"Right. They infiltrated all the relevant governments and Ranger teams and forced the Council and Court to sit down and write out a treaty. That treaty is why all the bad guys follow rules. It's why we never escalate fights."

"It's why they're about to cause the (censored) Apocalypse." Zedd interjects.

I roll my eyes. Thank you, oh Grouchy Elf Lord. "Essentially." I call up a modern-day political map. "This is what Galaxy Zero looks like today."

Andros frowns. It's black-and-white, two-tone. "Um...okay?"

"See this?" I point to the only colorful dot. "That's Earth. That's literally the _only_ inhabited planet left for someone to claim. And once someone claims it, the war is supposed to be over."

"Like checkers?" Andros asks.

"Yeah. Except that once the final king is made, someone's going to pull out a bomb and blow up the board." I grin. "So we're stopping that. _Before_ it becomes a problem."

"The Galactic Ranger Corps is the only truly neutral force in the galaxy." Zedd explains. "If we can bring the first Rangers, or their Heirs, to Command One, then we can use the Power itself as a weapon to re-negotiate a treaty."

"But that all depends on bringing the first Rangers there." Andros finally catches on.

"Yep." Good Elf Lord. You get a cookie. Or you would if I had one.

Andros thinks for a minute. It's always hard for pure Lightsiders to grasp this. Tricky for Darksiders, too-they tend to keep assuming they're the good guys-but Lightsiders just sort of _stop_ for a few minutes.

This is one of those times when I love being a Shade. Yeah, sure, most of the galaxy considers us either shameful or slaves, since they think anyone who can encompass two sides is automatically a traitor, but we can actually grasp complex concepts.

"So the woman in med bay..." Andros says, "She's a Yellow Ranger?"

"_The_ Yellow Ranger." Zedd rumbles. "The first to bear the Yellow Power."

"And she's going to die." Andros looks horrified.

"Yes." I tell him quietly. "But if we're fast enough, no one else has to die with her."


	6. Death

A\N: Yeah, sorry, this is a pretty dramatic chapter and I got distracted on the whole posting thing. Not gonna happen again.

* * *

_Andros_

My whole life was a lie.

I remember on KO-35, I was taught that Rangers served the forces of Light in the world. That we were..._good_. That the United Alliance of Evil was bad...I mean, I knew it was just a catchphrase. I knew officially we were the Eltarian Empire and they were the Dark Court, but...

But I _believed_.

I'm sitting with Zedd's sister-her name is Aria-watching over her. She's dying. Tommy's arguing with Zedd about giving her a funeral on Command One, or whether we'll need to give her a funeral out here in space so that we can turn around and find her Heir. It'll only be a few hours.

My mind drifts back to when I saved Karone.

When I first met her...she was happy. Not the sort of childish happy she was on Miranoi. She had a purpose and a goal and she knew what she wanted in life. And then they took her and brainwashed her and I thought, I really thought...

It's not that they weren't bad to her. It _hurt_ being brainwashed like that. The chips must have been hell. But everyone knows, or at least Eltar tells us, that Shades are disordered. They have one Light and one Dark parent. That's why Lightsiders and Darksiders can never intermarry, because their children end up as Shades.

It's strange, I never actually wondered why Cassie said that sounded like Earth's 'bad gay science'.

We bind Shades to guardians. I know the Dark Court says it's enslavement, but it isn't, Shades just can't take care of themselves. They're too wild and unpredictable. And the courts bound Karone to me.

She was doing better! I close my eyes, trying not to strike something. If Aria wakes up, I don't want to scare her. Karone _was_. As soon as she was bound to me, she started acting more and more like a Lightsider. I _know_ she's Light. She's my _sister_. Darksiders can't help it, but my sister isn't a Darksider...

_No, she's a Shade, isn't she?_

She wanted to go to Miranoi. She thought maybe she'd be happier there. But she just sort of stopped talking to me there, and I...I guess I thought maybe she just was having problems. That maybe it was too hard to remember...

She cut me out of her life, didn't she? She stopped talking to me because she's a Shade, and she knew I thought Shades were disordered.

And the UAE...

No. The Dark Court. I fought them, and I don't regret it. Not really. I had to do it. But Karone...I regret that.

Aria's breathing grows shallow. I sigh and get up. Zedd needs to be here-

"And if you think for one minute I am allowing you to endanger our misison-"

"Endanger our _mission_?"

...Never mind. I shut the door and sit next to Aria, taking her hand.

Karone, what have I _done_? Are you _really_ sick? Was I right? Or did you stop talking to me for a reason? Did I do something wrong?

Aria opens her eyes.

"Zedd?"

That accent is kind of pretty. "No. I'm Andros." I smile as best I can. "Thank you for saving me."

Aria smiles back. "Is that Zedd screaming?"

"Um, yes." I chuckle sheepishly. "Sorry, they're, uh..."

"Father and son." Aria whispers. "I understand. Tommy's his Heir..." She shuts her eyes. "Call them here. I want to meet my nephew."

"Sure." I go up to the door. This would be much easier with my whistle, but Tommy confiscated it, so I just stick my pinkies in my mouth and let out a sharp whistle.

Both men glare at me.

"Aria wants to see you."

They walk in, the anger forgotten. They're a lot alike, now that I think about it, all smooth grace and temper and intelligence and acid wit. Cold and dark. Tommy's a Shade, though, isn't he? I always thought it was weird. He doesn't _act_ like a Shade, most of them are quiet and you can tell they're sick. He acts sort of...sort of _alien_.

But it's easy to forget sometimes.

"Tommy." Aria whispers. "My brother's son..." She takes his arm, tugging. "Here. Let me speak." She whispers something in his ear, then kisses his cheek. "You're a good boy. I wish I'd..." She trails off. "Go on out." She finally says. "Take your friend with you. My brother and I have to talk."

Tommy bows formally, curling his folded hands so his fingertips touch each wrist, then jerks his head at me. I follow him out.

You don't have to be at a hospital to feel hospital time. It shows up when you're sitting outside of a dying person's room, waiting, waiting. When there's nothing to do but sit and think. Long, quiet moments.

When you finally ask if the other person is a Shade. Hear the reply, and ask if they've talked to Karone, and then realize that, yeah, she cut you out, and realize how much it hurts, and that while someone else's story goes on in the next room, yours is still running, side-by-side.

"She loves you." Tommy says quietly. "She just doesn't really know how to talk to you anymore."

"I thought I was doing the right thing." I whisper, my head in my hands. "The healer who talked to her, he said I wouldn't be bound to her for long-"

I see stars as my head hits the wall. Tommy's holding me by the throat, pure rage in his eyes.

"You _enslaved_ her?" He hisses.

"No! No, I-" I can't _breathe_, stop choking me! "I _loved_ her, I was her _guardian_, I swear!"

Tommy holds me there for a minute, but his eyes clear, and he drops me.

I cough and rub my neck.

"She said she didn't talk to you." Tommy says darkly. "I wondered why."

...Wait a minute. "You slept with my _sister_?"

Tommy glares.

...I probably shouldn't be outraged right now. "Sorry."

Tommy sighs. "You're an idiot."

"I didn't know." I beg. "I swear, Tommy. I never realized it hurt her."

Tommy sighs and passes a hand over his face. I wonder what he's thinking now. An aunt he never met dying, his lover's history shown to him...women are more important than men to Dark Courters. That's what I heard, anyway.

We lapse back into silence.

When Aria dies, the Yellow Power is silent for a moment. Even the other Colors Tommy and I hold hear it. We bow our heads, reverent.

Then Tommy sweeps off to the helm, leaving me to pick up the pieces.


	7. Home

A\N: And the second-to-last chapter...Here I start to introduce the theme. This story is _about_ Tommy-but Tommy's life isn't the one changing. All the changes ultimately add up to nothing...or maybe everything. Life is a tapestry.

* * *

_Tommy_

When we land, the first thing I do is take a shower.

Karone chucks my clothes at me when I walk out. She looks like a thunderstorm. I go get dressed, following her down to the workout room.

We pummel punching bags and lift weights mechanically, sharply, both of us expressing the same rage and frustration and helplessness. Command One told me when I asked for flight coordinates; I don't know when Karone found out.

Earth will surrender to Eltar at the end of the week.

Finally Karone and I go crash on the couch.

When Karone wakes up, I come out of her kitchen, wiping my hands on a towel. "I'm baking pizza, but I'm still cleaning up."

Karone grins dryly and heads for her entertainment system. "Guess I'll put on the zombie movies, then."

I consider her kitchen. Flour exploded everywhere when I opened the bag, but it can wait. I chuck the towel over my shoulder and join my lover on the sofa.

"Kim said she'll keep the throne." Karone says. "For a while."

I nod. That was part of the plan-when Maligore made Kim and Jason his Heirs, they became the heirs to the Dark Court's highest throne. So the Ranger Corps knows at least one side of the conflict will agree to their demand for an end. I think Kim was supposed to transfer power to Karone, though. Karone's had more training. But if Karone were to take power now...

Well, it wouldn't look good.

"Watch out." I joke. "She'll drag you on endless shopping sprees."

Karone chuckles, curling up against me, half-laying on me like I'm half-laying on the sofa. She's_ really_ warm. Like a space heater or something. "Andros apologized."

"For the whole..." I make a gesture on my neck, the common euphemism Darklings have for enslavement. "...Thing?"  
Karone's eyes cloud over with rage. "I swear I am going to shove that boy's head so far up his (censored) it comes out of his (censored) neck."

"Before or after you strangle him with his own intestines?" I ask dryly.

Karone shoots me a Look.

"We've had this conversation before." I remind her. "It's like being gay on Earth. And look how that turned out."

Karone sighs. "I punched him out."

"Good." Karone looks startled, and I snicker. "Maybe it'll fix his case of terminal stupidity."

Karone cracks up. Andros is...just not her favorite person anymore. I don't think it was actually his fault, even now that the half-dropped hints and everything make sense, but when she switched sides, it suddenly made her realize that, hey, she's a Shade. She associates him with trying to 'fix' that. It's painful for them both.

I have this image suddenly, of seeing a thousand trails around me, but never touching any of them, or going down my own. How many stories have I witnessed today? How many crisscrossing trails in the past week, month, year?

Where's mine?

It's a stupid thought. My path is as the leader of the Earth Ranger Corps, whatever that means, and everyone else's stories, well, that's what happens when you make friends, you find out about them. But it's still an interesting little thought pattern, and I file it away with all my other filed-away interesting thought patterns in case I ever get enough time to jot down poems again.

_tug_

I blink. So does Karone.

"...They used it?" I ask. I'm not quite sure what 'it' is, but it's the weapon that Zedd and the other first Rangers were creating.

"...No." Karone's more skilled at identifying what the Power tells her. "Not exactly. Just...threatened." She sighs. "That was anticlimactic."

"It probably was a big deal to someone else."

"Mmm." Karone flicks the entertainment system on. "You think Andros is okay?"

"Do I care?"

Karone chuckles. "You're so mean."

"So are you."

"Hey, I'm his sister, I'm allowed to be." She glances at her watch. "We've still got a few hours. Comedy, or horror?"

"Sci-fi." I answer, sticking my tongue out.

Karone giggles and flicks on a sci-fi, settling back.

The world keeps turning.


	8. Epilogue

A\N: So the point of this fic was to go 'ZOMG ZOMG WORLD IN DANGER-...whaa? Wait, it's over? ...Ooookay, then.' That's how RL works, so I was trying to reflect it. As such, this is the poem Tommy wrote about the entire mess. Thanks for reading!

* * *

_STORIES_

_Ink spilling across white page_  
_Dragged by the black pen_  
_Sketching across bare skin_  
_With sunlight for ink._  
_A thousand lines looping_  
_Into a single work._  
_What is the final piece?_  
_What shape does it take?_  
_As each story is written_  
_And woven into the basket,_  
_What does it hold?_


End file.
